US Westinghouse keen to participate in Kozloduy NPP's reactors life extension
US Westinghouse Electric Company is interested in taking part in procedures for extending the lifetime of the fifth and sixth reactors at Bulgaria's Kozloduy nuclear power plant (NPP), Bulgaria's economy ministry said.
Westinghouse is also willing to supply the facility with fresh nuclear fuel, according to the statement.
The announcement follows a meeting between Bulgaria's economy minister Traicho Traikov and Jose Gutierrez, managing director and vice president for southern Europe of the US company, which was carried out within the visit of prime minister Boiko Borissov to Madrid last week.
This is the second time that Westinghouse expressed interest in the Bulgarian plant, after in April 2010 it said it was willing to participate in the construction of a new reactor at the NPP after the country asked the US to help it find a strategic investor for the Belene nuke project.
In the autumn of 2010, Traikov stated the power plant had prepared a timeframe for extending the lifespan of the units, whose operation permits expire in 2017 and 2019, respectively.
In November, Kozloduy NPP's head Kostadin Dimitrov said the life of both reactors should be extended by at least 20 years. /Source: Dnevnik/